The Lightning Witch

by Natalie Goertzen

  Oh, no, I thought. More victims of the atrocities of Shadow Hills. I stepped closer. God knew what these poor people had been through. One was a young man no older than Jasper. His skin was ashen, his breaths short and raspy. The other was an older man, arms closing in on his broken body as if trying to protect himself from his dreams.

  “But thanks to you ladies—and Jones, of course, God rest him—that woman and her cohorts will never harm anyone again.” Agnes crept by Laura and put a warm hand on her arm as she brought a bowl in the other. “Got old bones; spell casting gets harder every time. That’s why I needed the help.”

  She stopped at the edge of the old man’s bed and stirred the contents of the bowl with bony fingers. Katerina and Laura stood at her side. Anna Belle went to the side of the old man.

  They all began swaying slightly and singing—softly at first, but building in volume as Agnes flicked the concoction out of the bowl and onto the old man’s body. He stirred then, and Anna Belle was there to coax him back to sleep. The singing stopped, and the silence in the room grew deafening. Then a low moan escaped his lips before a silver and white essence flowed free from his mouth and swirled about the room. I watched it and felt peace so deeply that tears burst from my eyes. The essence rushed up to me and surrounded me with its being. I felt warm and calm.

  Then it was gone.

  I looked to the old man, who Anna Belle was now covering with a sheet.

  The old man had left this world. Anna Belle, noticing my shock and wet cheeks, came to me and hugged me tightly.

  “Nicole, it’s okay! This was a blessing we gave him. Lady Veronica tortured him in such a way that his body could no longer live life, but his soul could not move on. We have just separated soul from man. Do not mourn his release from pain. Rejoice that he is now free from it.” She smiled sweetly and turned to join the women at the next bed.

  I followed. Katerina turned to me and opened an arm to accept me in their circle. I seemed to know their words. It was an ancient tongue used by our ancestors. I felt something old and deep inside of me stir as I spoke them, a light taking hold of a candle, a dawn breaking the landscape. This was who I was, and this was where I belonged.

  The young man’s body responded to our singing, and just like the old man, his essence escaped from his mouth and swirled in the flight of freedom around us. Our hair whipped in a new wind. I felt gratitude and joy so massively that I laughed, in spite of what I had assumed only moments before to be bordering on murder. This soul thanked us, and just before he disappeared into a galaxy of crystal stars and pearl-effervescent moons, he shone on his body, perhaps saying good-bye to the vessel that had once housed him.

  That was different from the passing of the old man, perhaps because I couldn’t see it from where I was before. Suddenly I knew that this was not an ending. This was a new beginning.

  Katerina patted my arm, her eyes shining. She was proud of me once again. Laura turned to me and nodded. Did I dare say she felt the same? Her eyes were slightly haunted again for some reason.

  Agnes walked up to me, hunched even further from delivering the recent spell. I lent her my arm to aid her, which I noticed was glowing. She looked at my arm and then up at me as I touched her. Her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped. I stopped.

  “Is something the matter, Agnes?”

  She searched my face hard and turned me toward her. She finally tore her eyes away and looked to Laura. “Did you know about this one you have been housing all of this time?”

  Laura flashed a look at her. “Yes, I had my suspicions, but she is unaware, we haven’t spoken of such matters as of yet,” she hissed quietly, but I still heard it all.

  Agnes was shocked. I was shocked.

  I stormed toward Laura. “What matters haven’t we spoken of? What is she talking about, Laura?” I demanded. I was beginning to grow tired of all this secrecy from Laura. Katerina and Anna Belle kept trying to bring me in to their circle, to teach me of who I was, and the moment I succeeded and felt like one of them, I was met with more secrets, and it was always at the discretion of Laura!

  I was fuming. The floorboards creaked as if something else was walking toward us. Laura looked around, a slight panic rising in her cheeks.

  Katerina came to the rescue. “Nicky, dear, all in due time. I know this can get frustrating, but you need to trust us, okay? Above everything, trust we will reveal everything at the time it needs to be revealed.” Her eyes pleaded with me. Anna Belle stood back, biting her nails.

  I resolved to settle down. If I got angry, it wouldn’t help. If I stormed off, I wouldn’t be leaving with everything I needed to know to defeat Lou. I still knew nothing in that regard. I was at the mercy of Laura’s judgment on when I would hear what I desperately needed to hear. I couldn’t stay here forever; I had to get back to my home and family and deal with Lou. I was growing stronger by the day. I felt healthy again. I had found my element, but now knowledge of Lou and whatever else I needed to know was my focus. I felt Agnes behind me, and I turned.

  “This one has been through quite a journey.” She laid wiry hands on my shoulders and peered into my eyes. “Been to hell and back, my dear.”

  I nodded, fresh tears wetting my eyes as I submitted.

  She smiled with encouragement. “But you came back,” she whispered—as if that were brave enough.

  “Agnes,” Katerina stepped forward. “She is not through with this battle with this creature yet, I’m afraid. We need your guidance in aiding her further.”

  Agnes turned and went back to her rocking chair. Before she sat, she looked me up and down, sizing me up in hard consideration. “Well, best get supper on. Got a feeling it will be a long night.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  After we buried the bodies of the last fatal victims of Shadow Hills and said the words of the witches for times such as this, we decided we would stay in Agnes’s cottage that night after our long journey. We supped on smoked duck and crisp green beans that we dipped in a dark sauce that tasted like cranberries and honey. The fire in the hearth burned brightly and warmed the room as night rolled over the day outside the door. I stared in the flames and thought about Jasper. I could almost see him in the flames, bent over boards, sawing vigorously and then pausing to push the blond hair out of his eyes and to wipe his brow.

  Katerina and Anna Belle floated around the room lighting sage, its feathery smoke wafting toward doors and windows with the help of their hands. They whispered so low I couldn’t hear their words. Candles sprang to life around the room as Anna Belle passed, colours of peace and acceptance.

  “Nicole, tell us the tale of Lou,” Agnes spoke. She and Laura rocked in time in their respective chairs. They both held fast needles as they knit from the same item, the yarn so black it looked blue in the firelight. I choked on the cognac I was sipping at the mention of his name. So far the trio had not wanted details of Lou or our time together, besides those moments with Katerina when I was hypnotized. On a walk with Laura one day, she mentioned to talk of someone, especially someone evil, invited them into your home and life. She said such talk would have to wait.

  As if reading my mind, Katerina turned to me and nodded it was okay now. With their sage burning and spell casting, she and Anna Belle were protecting the room and its inhabitants as well as warding off any evil spirits that might have wanted to listen in.

  I swallowed. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go back there, back to that place in my heart that was damaged. To remember these wicked and horrid details, to picture his face, to recall the sound of his voice—it was like recalling a vivid nightmare that, when you finally woke from it, made you feel like something inside of you had changed, and you would never be the same again after you had seen what you’d seen.

  But Laura stopped needling and rested her hands on her lap. She looked down at me where I was nestled by the fire and gave me her look of mind me, girl. I sighed and rolled my eyes. Guess I didn’t have a choice in the matter. It was for the benefit
of Agnes to know, so that she could help me further establish my next steps after all, and also for the benefit of my mentors, so that they could truly hear the horrors I had brought upon my home and family, my element and myself. I knew I couldn’t fully heal, could not fully encompass my abilities, would never conquer Lou until they all knew exactly what we were up against.

  I took a deep breath and delved into my tale. Retelling it felt like a dream. Events that had happened in the past that now seemed like a legend, a story of happenings that would not be passed down to children at bedtime in fear of bringing on nightmares. I told them everything. I spilled my heart and mind into their listening ears—from the moment Lou walked into my shop until the moment I woke up from my coma. I told them about my house burning down, my Earth element that was for so long unknown to me after his dabbling, my time spent in the dungeon, and Lou’s insatiable need for Jasper and the fire now. Through it all, Anna Belle worried her eyebrows and chewed her nail; Katerina watched me and would shake her head in pity from time to time; Laura rocked slowly, still needling her yarn; and Agnes watched the fire as if she could see the events unfold in its red tongues.

  When I was finished, I felt drained. I felt the wounds that hadn’t even completely healed seep open and sting. I rubbed my eyes. No one said anything for a long time; the only sounds in the room were the crackling of the flames and the steady creaking of the rocking chairs. It seemed everyone was letting my story soak in.

  I hoped I would not be judged here. I hoped I wouldn’t lose my newfound friends and mentors to the deeds I had performed. I dropped my head and cried softly.

  Katerina and Anna Belle came to my side and held me close. I breathed them in as Anna Belle softly chanted a calming spell to settle me down in my grief at memory. Katerina stroked my hair.

  “Well, that’s that, then.” Laura croaked. “How can we help this poor soul?” She spoke to Agnes, who was lost in thought.

  Agnes took her time, chewing on the story, rolling it over in her mind, eyes still transfixed on the flames. Slowly, she rose from the chair, which still rocked on in her wake.

  She stood close to the fire, her back to us all. “I had hoped I had made it through my lifetime enough that I would never hear tell of that being walking this earth again.” Agnes spoke low. We leaned in to hear. “I am eighty-seven years old. Lord God have mercy on us all.”

  A wind came down the chimney and stirred the flames. Sparks fluttered from its depth, and the wood choked. Thunder roared outside, and the air grew cold. Agnes turned to us and walked slowly around the room as she spoke.

  “This creature is a demon of the lowliest sort. I heard tales whispered in this very village many moons ago when I was just a girl. He is not someone you speak of lightly. He has come once before, perhaps more times—who knows what is legend and what is truth once time has had its way with memories?” Agnes could bear carrying this knowledge no further, so she eased herself down, back into her chair.

  Laura draped her shawl on her shoulders and patted her arm. “Truth be told, he is a witch killer.”

  Anna Belle shuddered and held me tighter. My stomach dropped with the tested truth that I and my family had all been very close—too close—to destruction.

  And we were still in the path of danger.

  “He came to a coven on the southern border of this country one hundred, maybe two hundred years ago. He weaselled his way into their inner circle and began acquiring elements from the witches. Then he would kill them to take it. Witches were dropping like flies in those days. His power grew as he stole their powers at the moment of their deaths. It was a massacre. Once the witches realized what Lou was up to, and once they figured out who he was, they tried everything to banish him, destroy him, or bind him, but nothing seemed to help.”

  “Isn’t that when the first Lightning Witch was born, Agnes?” Anna Belle’s eyes grew wide in hope and excitement.

  Agnes nodded. “Yes, dear. Lou terrorized the covens for years, unable to find the last element in any witch he came across—Fire. He killed them anyway, even though they didn’t possess the power of the flame.”

  I remembered all the stories my parents had told me as me and my brother Jason grew up about our people being persecuted for our talents. I had always wondered how witches would let anyone destroy them. Now I understood better. My parents had never said his name or talked about him because either their parents or grandparents hadn’t known, or because somewhere along the way, witches had begun passing down this story instead of bringing up the demon. Talking about him would have given him strength. Even thinking about him may have conjured him back to earth to reign again.

  And yet, here he was again.

  I also understood why witches had learned not to display or brag about their powers to just anyone. We lived in secret our whole lives because we adapted from our ancestors who were slaughtered for their gifts, yes, but not by people—it had been by Lou. He was ancient, and after all of this time, had come back looking once again for the element he needed most.

  I grew sick.

  Agnes continued. “Finally a White Witch—that is what they call the one who possesses Lightning, the power of the sky—came of age, and her talents became known to her coven. A prophecy was proclaimed at her birth that she would be the one to destroy the demon.”

  I looked at Laura. I remembered her vague stories of the Lightning Witches being bad, prone to evil. I wondered how they would have hoped to have a saviour in one, to battle the devil, no less, all with the tremendous power of the sky.

  “Did she defeat him?” I asked, anxious during Agnes’s pause.

  She swallowed, looking forlorn towards Laura. “Well, yes, for a time, obviously, as he walks the earth once again. But yes, she was able to send him back to whatever stinking trench he rose from.” She spit at the fire.

  Okay, so there was hope, then? We just needed a witch that could cast the power of the sky.

  “The problem is, she gave a lot that day; she sacrificed much of the elements and herself to rid the world of that demon your people call Lou. When a witch gives out so much of herself, she must take something in return. Using that sort of power changes you. You cannot be a part of its power and expect nothing to change.

  “After the great battle of the Lightning Witch and the devil, the White Witch slept for thirty days. Many thought she would never rise; the battle had taken her soul out with it. But eventually she rose from her slumber. By now her eyes were the colour of blood on snow, her hair streaked with white and grey. She became an old one overnight, it seemed. She never spoke again. Never spoke of what skill, what strength it took to defeat the demon. Never accepted the gratitude of her people thanking her for saving them from utter destruction. She would stand on the hilltop every night, letting her skirts and hair blow in the wind. It was as if she were yearning to be swept away in those storms, to become a part of the storm.”

  My mouth dropped. I remembered Laura’s story; could this be the exact same witch Laura had spoken of? But that would make Laura two hundred years old. Laura caught me looking at her deciding if she could be that old. She returned me an arched eyebrow.

  “The people began growing sick—some dying overnight in their beds, some murdering each other from an unknown rage. The earth began to die around them; the rivers stopped flowing.”

  “Was that from the aftermath of Lou and his hunting?” Anna Belle asked.

  “No. It was from the White Witch.”

  “What happened to her and the town?” I asked.

  “The town realized she was the root cause of this new destruction, and she realized the same herself. Somehow, by using so much of her elements to destroy the beast, a piece of him ended up inside of her. Her soul was compromised somehow. It was as if the beast was still wreaking havoc from inside of the White Witch. She was still a witch, a woman with a heart; she did not save the people and witches in order to destroy them herself. One night, the stories say, during a particularly horrid storm
, she went up on that hill and a lightning bolt hit the tree. You can still see the mark on the trunk. And just like that, in a flash, she was gone. Most believe she destroyed herself with her own lightning.”

  I was confused. What was truth and what was legend, after all? Could she have been able to defeat Lou, but then still unable to save herself or her people? What price did she have to pay for it? What did she have to dish out and take in return? It made no sense to me that after her battle and defeat of the evil one in order to save her people and kin that she would wreak their very destruction herself! Then there truly was no saving grace here! Lou would win, no matter who dealt the death!

  I was left now with more questions than answers. I stood and paced in front of the fire, which had lost its heat and dwindled in a cold flame. The room was quiet, the air heavy with thoughts.

  What was I to do with this story? How would this help me? I felt even more powerless. This task to end Lou now seemed impossible. “So, what you are all saying is that we need a White Witch, one with the power of the skies, to defeat Lou, and pray she doesn’t in turn destroy everyone but sacrifice herself instead?”

  Agnes looked imploringly at Laura, who sighed and shifted in her chair to face me. Katerina came closer to me and drew her arm around me.

  “We don’t need to find a White Witch, Nicole Weston,” Laura whispered. “Because the White Witch of this generation, the one who can draw power from the skies and call upon the Lightning, is you.”

  Chapter Twenty

  My mouth dropped to the floor, I swear it. I looked to all of their faces, and they all kept stone expressions that marked those words to be true. I gasped.

  No.

  This couldn’t be. It made no sense. I would know this; I would feel it inside of me somehow.

  “We weren’t one hundred percent sure when we first saw you at the hospital. Jones was there working as an infiltrator to the asylum as well as waiting for the White Witch. Prophecy said this witch of this year would not know herself, and she would have been attempted upon by the demon before she or he found herself/himself out. The demon will not only be seeking the Fire element now. He knows the ultimate power he needs is the power of the White Witch. We have a due diligence of our generation to try to find her before he did. We all surmised the best place for her to show up would be at Shadow Hills. Jones was there to protect her and bring her to us when she was found.” Katerina lowered her eyes in grief for his loss. “We’ve all made sacrifices.”